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Faulkner holds the World Series trophy with his wife Jaime
(E15 CEO and fellow Forty Under 40 winner) and three kids |
Name: Colin Faulkner
Position: Cubs Senior VP/Sales & Marketing
Where I’m from: Boulder, Colo.
Where I call home: Wilmette, Ill.
Focusing on right now: We’re still trying to come down from all the stuff that happened over the past month. There’s a lot of follow-up, and then we’re right into planning for '17. So, there’s not going to be a lot of rest for us, given the short offseason.
Best advice: It’s kind of a cliché, but if you do something you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. Do something that you’re passionate about, whether it’s sports or something else.
A must for a new hire: Three things I look for are people to have a really good attitude, work hard and are intelligent. Attitude being the first one, because if you have a bad attitude and you work very hard and you’re smart, it doesn’t really do much.
Exec I admire most: I’ve been fortunate in my career: GEOFF MOORE (COTA) is the one I put in my Forty Under 40. He’s a person who I learned a lot from work-wise and personally. I’ve worked for BRYAN PEREZ (AXS), BRIAN BYRNES (Thunder), JEFF COGEN (Rays), JIM LITES (Stars). Working for those guys along the way has set me up for where I am today.
First thing in the morning: Probably like everybody, first thing I do is grab my phone. I also do crossfit a couple times a week.
Last book I read: I haven’t had a ton of time to read in the last month, but the last book I read was “The Sports Gene” by DAVID EPSTEIN. It’s all about human performance.
How I unwind: I love to listen to music. Recently, I’ve listened to a lot of ANDREW BELLE, EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY, THIS WILL DESTROY YOU.
Talking tech: I got an iPad Pro recently with the keyboard and find myself using it all the time. App-wise, there’s Momento, a journaling app I used a lot during this postseason run. I took notes and photos, just to remember everything. That’s some advice I gave to my team before we started this was just to take actual photos and mental photos. Everyone’s glad we did that. And then there’s the Things app, which I use as a to-do list, to keep organized.
Day in the life: I’m overseeing three teams: marketing, partnerships and ticket sales. I spend most of my day trying to clear obstacles for the guys who are on those teams and leading them. Then I also try to think down the road and figure out what’s next for us, and focus on those projects. So whether that’s what we’re doing in the secondary market, or finding a naming-rights partner or the park at Wrigley. Also, what’s the story of our brand going to be now that we’ve actually won the World Series? Those are the big topics each of those groups faces.
